Victory ships preparing to move once again

Residents who live along the shores of San Francisco Bay may soon see a ghostly sight as two WW-II era ships slowly slip past as they are towed to a shipyard in San Francisco.  Two WW-II Victory Ships are preparing to move from the Suisun Bay National Defense Reserve Fleet to the San Francisco BAE shipyard to be prepared for scrapping.

The Pan American Victory and the Earlham Victory are the first to leave the mothball fleet in Suisun Bay, California as part of an effort to scrap some of the oldest and decayed vessels in the reserve fleet.  See the press release from MARAD.

I had a chance to visit the Earlham Victory this week to conduct an inspection to ensure it was ready to be towed.  I’m posting a few photos from the visit.  I normally avoid posting photos from my job as a Coast Guard marine inspector, but due to the historical nature of this ship, I figure this would be appropriate.   I apologize for the quality of the photos, as I took them with my iphone.  The ship does not have power, so the interior of the ship is very dark.  It was an amazing experience to see the Earlham, but also somber to see that indeed ships age just as men.

The Earlham and Pan American Victory will both end up in Brownsville, Texas for scrapping and recycling.